your calendar

We're coming up on 2009 within hours. I always like putting up a new calendar and looking at all those unknown days and wondering what lies ahead, though I'm glad, thanks to His mercy and grace, I can't see what's coming. Last January (and beyond) was hard for me - I think if I'd known what was ahead I'd have just crawled into my closet and not come out till spring! But maybe I wouldn't appreciate the spacious places if not for the spots that seem to squeeze the life out of me:)

One thing I learned last year in that tight spot is who's really in charge of things. And it's not me. I had to let go of what I wanted (the writing dream) and just give it to Him, trusting that because He knows what's ahead and I don't, that I can accept whatever He puts on my calendar. Now my calendar this year, thankfully, is looking a little different than last year:) But it's still full of unknown challenges and I still have to remind myself Who is really in charge. Then I rest. Not an easy feat for us "high-strung" types but doable, trust me. Better yet, trust Him!

The date I'm most looking forward to in the coming year is the release of my first book on August 1st. For those who've pre-ordered my book, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! For those of you who don't like historical fiction, I forgive you - and would like to convert you:) I'm scheduled to do an interview with Christianbooks.com on July 30 by phone and am excited and a little nervous about that. And I hope to fly home and be at the Kentucky Book Fair next November, Lord willing.

Hope you are in a spacious place and not a tight spot. But the tight spots don't last forever and they really do make the spacious places more spacious. Here are two memorable scriptures to start the new year, no matter what your calendar holds:

For the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a spacious place: He rescued me because He delighted in me. Psalm 18:18-19

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, "You are my God." My times are in Your hand.
Psalm 32:14-15

the one word

The hallmark of good writing is the one word that dispenses with the need for many. -Martin, Writing Historical Fiction

The galleys are done! Sometimes I think I should be writing more about writing on this blog but life is about so much more than writing. Besides, friends and relatives who read these posts would be bored silly:) If they aren't already, that is.

We're coming up on '09 which will be a wild ride for me writing-wise, I think. Lots of unexpecteds ahead. And I tend to be a "likes everything neat and tidy" type person but publishing is not like that. There is the wild card of marketing/sales which is a mystery to me. Recently I typed in The Frontiersman's Daughter on google and found the book is being advertised in Germany on a German booksite, sans English, among other places. Are Germans really interested in Daniel Boone type tales, I asked myself?

I'm still at the stage where I have to pinch myself to believe it's happening at all. But then I realize writers never really "arrive" unless maybe they win the Pulitzer Prize or something like that. As for me, I'm in the 41st year of a writing apprenticeship, no kidding, with a great deal yet to learn. If I could write like anyone at all, I would choose James Alexander Thom. He is a brilliant writer, which I am not. Francine Rivers is another. Her novel, Redeeming Love, is an inspired book and it's still selling very well years later. I also love Janice Holt Giles for her Kentucky tales. She made the frontier so real.

But I really like books that have an air of unreality about them. And no, I'm not talking about vampire novels! There has to be more of a romantic than realistic feel to them as I like to escape in a novel, rise above this old fallen world for a spell. I'll never understand why depressing books sell.

Anyway, we're off to a violin lesson if we can get out of our snowy driveway. I have four more Amazon books coming and am thrilled! For Christmas, my Mom gave me a very interesting book on Henry Clay's family entitled Kentucky Clay by Katherine Bateman. And my cousin, Leslie, in Lexington, gave me the best Kentucky cookbook put out by the Kentucky Monthly called Another Serving. Hope you received some wonderful books for the holidays as well. Happy Monday:)

post-Christmas bliss

Christmas is over and my living room is filled with Indiana Jones Legos just as my kitchen is full of leftovers. The Christmas trees are looking a little less green and lonesome without presents underneath. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday though I know many struggle this time of year. As I get older I sense the underlying sadness of the season. A writing friend oif mine just lost his wife of many years so I'm sure this will be a bittersweet time for him in future. On the other hand, I know of someone who recently adopted a little girl from Ethiopia and when asked what she was most thankful for over the holidays she said water and love.

I'm most thankful for my family, spread out all over! My brother is in Washington D.C. right now with his family and my parents celebrated quietly in Berea and Lexington, Ky. with my dear cousin, Leslie, and family. My cousin, Lorri, in Russia had a small Christmas as well with her two teens and husband. Wish we could all be together! But it's reassuring to know He is with each of us wherever we are. Read Psalm 139 if you are in any doubt:)

I will be thankful to get these galleys off my desk and back to the editors. I've been meticulous in making changes and think the book is stronger. You do catch some quirky things. One character changed eye color three times in the novel and I finally nailed them and deleted them. I can't believe I overlooked that to begin with but when a book is 425 pages or so strange things happen. Plus it's surprising how many times you can read a text and miss errors. I am even dreaming of The Frontiersman's Daughter at night, no kidding, so time to get back to book 2 and 3!

Yes, it finally did stop snowing on Christmas Day:) If you need a little snow scene, scroll down to my neocounter. Happy Saturday.

happy birthday, Jesus!

Ah! Dearest Jesus, Holy Child,

Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,

Within my heart, that it may be

A quiet chamber kept for thee.

-Martin Luther

christmas eve

We have 4 more inches of snow this morning and it's still snowing! UPS called yesterday and asked us to meet them at the end of our driveway as they couldn't make it even with chains on the tires. We gladly obliged! The boys have been sledding a lot and Randy has been shoveling and plowing after work. This is chili and hot cocoa weather, for sure.

Tonight is our candlelight service at church at 6 o'clock and then we have our little Christmas eve celebration here at the house with all the goodies you only make once a year - shrimp cocktail and artichoke dip, a cheese ball, mini croissants and lots of crackers, Mexican layer dip, bbq smokies and chicken skewers, stuffed potatoes, peach mango salsa and chips, and those little chocolate lava cakes and blueberry blossoms. I'm writing it down here so I won't forget! We live very simply most of the year but tonight we celebrate.

Wish we had a sleigh - one of those old colonial cutters - to ride to church in tonight. That would be memorable, indeed. The best part is that we're expecting more snow! Hope you are snowed in wherever you are and celebrating His richest blessings, and that you know the One who is the real reason for the season.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people ... there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11

winter wonderland

Can you find the snowflake in this picture?

We woke up to several more inches of snow this morning so now have just under two feet with more on the way! I've been spending a lot of time looking out windows, knowing it won't last. The temps are already warming up and those icicles hanging from the rafters are slowly melting. Our powdery snow is trying to be slushy now and all the trees look burdened. Randy had to go out to the apples and plums and cherry trees and shake the big branches off for fear they'll break. I hope there's a special place in heaven, like Narnia, where it's always snowing and never melting, and you don't feel too cold:)

Church was cancelled last night so Paul escaped playing violin. Randy did take them 4-wheeling in the snow at a friend's house though those ATV's make me nervous, even with helmets and all the rest. I stayed home and worked on the galleys. Our power is still on though others around us are without. We lost power for 4 days a couple of years ago and it was no fun, espcially when the water failed. We're still not out of the woods, so to speak, so hope all the amenities continue.

If I could, I'd move all this snow to my granny's house in Kentucky and celebrate there! With a big honeybaked ham, garlic cheese grits, and red velvet cake. My little version of paradise. But I'm confined to the wintry northwest woods with three Christmas trees, a warm woodstove, and two boys very excited about the next few days. Not a bad trade off, huh?

No, I still don't have all my Christmas shopping done, or know what's on the menu, but this year has been unlike anything I've ever known so it just figures this Christmas would be new and different as well:)

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

infinite

An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.
A.W. Tozer

polar express

This Saturday morning it's starting to snow again and the sky looks like a big grey bully. Everyone in the northwest is hunkering down for up to 15 more inches of snow and winds gusting to 90 mph. Folks are calling it the polar express as temps dropped to the teens last night and we get some of that cold Canadian air. The boys built a snow cave which collapsed so we walked to the little 100-year old Joyce General Store a couple of miles away yesterday to mail some things. Walking in a foot or more of snow is good exercise! And you can't always have your head in your laptop:)

Wyatt has decided he wouldn't want to be a writer who sits in a chair all day and stares at a computer screen. He just doesn't understand how pleasant it is to park there and do just that, especially when it's a big Lazy Boy chair situated right next to a warm woodstove with a big picture window on the other side overlooking the woods. So I think it's safe to say he's not a writer in the making as I knew by age 12 that this was the path for me. Of course writers can arrive at any age but I'm one of those who think they are born, not made. Paul is still dreaming of being a violinist/fiddler.

Paul is trying to work up the courage to play "Silent Night" at church tomorrow night and "Angeline the Baker" at Old Time Fiddlers come January. This latter tune is so pretty and interesting. I'm so glad I have a fiddler in all my books. There's nothing in the world like the fiddle though banjo is a close second.

As soon as I finish these galleys I return to the Red River in Kentucky, via my chair by the fire, for another edit, though I'm just about dying at this point to get back to book 3. And I've just realized I'd better start thinking about that 4th book!

Happy Saturday!

snowed in. the sequel.

Sometime in the night it snowed another half a foot! And it's still snowing this morning. The big spruce with all the colored twinkle lights on the deck was swept off by the wind and now sits in a drift. All this snow is unusual. We usually have a foot of rain about now, not snow, so we are thrilled:) A white Christmas, indeed!

Luckily we don't have anything on the schedule today but lunch with a neighbor if we can hoof it over there as Randy took the Jeep to work. I'm writing an additional chapter for the galleys and am almost done. Not with the galleys but with the chapter!

I've noticed a disturbing trend in fiction the last few years. I love beautifully written narrative but now the focus is on lots of dialogue with rapid-fire delivery. I think people want a novel that reads like a video game or t.v. show. A novel needs to unfold with just the right balance of narrative and dialogue or the reader feels cheated. At least this reader. But so many books today have that rapid-fire feel and I think it's a reflection of our society and how people want to be entertained and not have to think and absorb. Sadly, much is missed in reading this way.

I do want to mention my association with Books & Such Literary Agency in Santa Rosa, California. I'm so pleased that Janet Grant has just taken this about-to-be-published author on! Janet is a prolific author in her own right. Before founding her agency in 1994 she was formerly an editor for Dr. Dobson at Focus on the Family and had her own imprint at Zondervan. She has some wonderful clients and I'm humbled to be on her list.

Christmas is next week and usually I have our menu planned by now and lots of shopping done. But, at this point,if anyone asks me what we're doing all I can say is, "Galleys!"

May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart. -Eskimo Proverb

growing toward God

Last night, despite the snow and ice, I went to a ladies night out at church and was glad I did! Yep, shut that laptop and put away those galleys and headed east a whole mile and a half. Our pastor's wife, Cindy, had invited her mom who is an author to come and speak about her new devotional book, Growing Toward God.

Doreen Wright Blomstrand and Barbara J. Koshar have penned this wonderful book which is "inspired by the earnest words of children,and pairs heartwarming anecdotes with Scripture to create encouraging meditations. A warm reflection for moms and grandmothers. Growing Toward God reminds readers of the wisdom we hear 'from the mouths of babes.'"

The cover looks like a rainbow and has a picture of the cutest kid climbing a ladder. I encourage you to buy this wonderful book as it is very well done and has been endorsed by some well-known authors and pastors. I had the privilege of sitting by Doreen last night and she is as delightful as her book!

The book is available at Amazon.com and also Barnes and Noble and other places. Would make a great gift now or any season.

Children are a gift from the Lord. Psalm 127:3